HOMELAND INSECURITY

52% of Americans: Impeach Bush on wiretaps

Zogby poll: Most want action if U.S. citizens monitored without judge's OK

Published: 01/15/2006 at 11:05 PM

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A new Zogby poll indicates a majority of Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge’s approval.

Respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with the following statement:

“If President Bush wiretapped American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment.”

The poll found that 52 percent agreed, 43 percent disagreed and 6 percent said they didn’t know or declined to answer.

“The American people are not buying Bush’s outrageous claim that he has the power to wiretap American citizens without a warrant,” said Bob Fertik, co-founder of the left-leaning group AfterDowningStreet.org which commissioned the survey. “Americans believe terrorism can be fought without turning our own government into Big Brother.”

The poll interviewed 1,216 adults in the U.S. from Jan. 9-12, and has a 2.9 percent margin of error.

As one might expect, the respondents’ political affiliation played a role in their answer, as 66 percent of Democrats favored impeachment, as did 59 percent of Independents, but only 23 percent of Republicans.